[Pelican]

Retirement is the key. Or having virtually unlimited time. You won't run out of things to do in the game, that's for sure. And it's surprising how creative you can be, setting up new leagues, designing stadiums and uniforms and logos (or downloading the wonderful efforts of others), devising strategy, fussing with finances, trades and free agent signings, player development. It is daunting to have the vast range of options; but as Sweed says above, take things one at a time, ideally starting with Spring Training. Most settings can be adjusted over time, particularly in Commissioner mode; but I would take care for those (like league structure and schedule) that are locked in after preseason. When I started, with OOTP 21, I took the advice of veterans, and chose a season I knew well, jumped in, learned as I went along. I have found that success requires a mix of fundamental baseball knowledge, a grasp of metrics and stats and scouting, and some management sense - both on field and as GM trying to find the right players and keep them happy and healthy. And of course it helps to have some insight into how the game itself functions, at the same time resisting the urge to "hack" your way to contrived results by overriding the AI engine. After thousands of games, still very much a work in progress for me. I am particularly grateful for a community of people who are very generous with their time, and developers who pay attention and come up with bug fixes and patches. I have learned a tremendous amount of useful stuff on these message boards.